Sampling resolution and gain controller for a wireless receiver

ABSTRACT

A gain controller for a wireless communication system sets the receiver gain during the initial time duration of a preamble, and for each subsequent symbol computes a new gain value, which is applied at the end of each symbol. An analog to digital converter resolution controller sets the resolution of the ADC to a high resolution during a preamble interval and a first symbol interval, and to a comparatively lower resolution thereafter until the end of the frame. When a new zone is entered, the first symbol of the new zone is sampled at a higher resolution than the subsequent symbols.

The present application is a continuation of patent application Ser. No.11/825,832 filed Jul. 7, 2007, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,073,085.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION Background of the Invention

FIG. 1 shows a prior art OFDM receiver 100 for wireless signalprocessing, where wireless signals are received at antenna 114, areamplified and converted to a baseband quadrature signal by RF front end112, the output of which is sampled by Analog to Digital Controller(ADC) 102, which has a fixed sampling resolution such as 12 bits, whichis sufficient for the dynamic range of signals in a packet. The outputof the ADC 102 is furnished to phase correction 104, which removes phaserotations associated with frequency differences between the transmittedsignal and the received signal, and this output is provided to a symboltiming function 106, which determines the start of packet 116 and symbollocation, and provides this to the baseband processor 110 whichdemodulates the signals and handles any re-transmission requests forlost packets, thereby generating a data stream as was originallytransmitted. The RF front end 112 includes a gain control 118 which isset during the preamble interval for single channel systems, or duringthe first symbol of a new zone in each frame for MIMO (multiple inputmultiple output) systems by the gain controller 108, as will bedescribed later. The RF front end gain control 118 is critical becausethe wireless environment includes large variations in receive signalstrength. These signal strength variations can be caused by temporallyvarying ‘multipath’ reflections due to receiver or inter-path reflectormovements that add or subtract generating variations in signal strengthor can be caused by switching from a 1×1 antenna configuration zone(subframe) to a MIMO N×N antenna configuration zone (subframe) inside aframe which introduces new signal sources and end points and thereforenew sets of ‘multipath’ reflections. Additionally, in the IEEE 802.16estandard, a transmitter may have a variety of subchannel configurations,referred to as ‘zones’, which result in the use of a particular subsetof available subcarriers to carry information. Two types of zones areFUSC (Fully Used Sub-Carrier) or PUSC (Partially Used Sub-Carrier, wherethe particular subcarriers in use may vary. When the receiver moves intoor out of a zone operating with a different set of subcarriers, theadditional power which is transmitted after joining the zone may resultin an abruptly higher or lower power level. When the receiver isoperating in an environment where the zones are changing and causingdifferent subcarrier combinations to be present, combined with the moreslowly varying multipath reflections, there can be a significantvariation in the received signal power as these subcarriers undergodifferent multipath reflections, and subcarrier power levels, as shownin FIGS. 2 and 3. In the prior art of 802.11a and 802.11g, a fixed gainlevel could be used for an entire wireless packet based on a preamblesignal level, whereas in MIMO systems described in 802.16e, a differentapproach may be required.

FIG. 2 shows a prior art wireless packet such as an OFDM packet of802.11a or 802.11g, or 802.11ae. Each packet 200 includes a preamble 202which identifies the packet type and data rate, followed by a successionof symbols 204 . . . 208, and is followed by a similarly formedsubsequent packet 220 shown starting with preamble 210.

FIG. 3 shows waveforms for the receiver of FIG. 1 aligned with the timesequence of the preamble and the symbols of the FIG. 2 packet. Waveform302 shows the incoming signal level before gain adjustment, and waveform304 shows the gain control voltage (Vagc) used to change the gain of theRF amplifiers of the RF front end 112 of FIG. 1. In the prior artreceiver 100 of FIG. 1, the receiver gain 118 is set to a relativelyhigh gain level shown in FIG. 3 waveform 304 as PRE_PKT_GAIN prior tothe arrival of a packet, and then the gain is reduced or increased bythe gain controller 108 as determined by examining the energy level ofthe digitized signals at the output of the ADC 102. The gain controller108 examines the energy level during the preamble as determined bybaseband processor 110 to set the RF front end gain 118, as seen in gainwaveform 304, which converges in region 308 to a packet gain PKT_GAIN310 by examining the ADC digitized range of values, and reducing thegain when the maximum values result in saturation of the ADC, andincreasing the gain when the maximum values are less than a threshold of6 db below saturation, or any other threshold below saturation whichprovides linear operation of the ADC. Once the gain control voltage 304(signal 118 of FIG. 1) is set during the packet preamble 202, this gainremains in effect for the duration of the packet until the end of thecurrent packet, whereupon it returns to PRE_PKT_GAIN until the arrivalof the next preamble.

PRIOR ART

U.S. Patent Application 2003/0194029 describes a gain control system foran OFDM SISO (Single Input Single Output) such as a cellular phone TDMAsystem where the AGC function changes gain between frames.

U.S. Patent Application 2005/0169397 describes a receiver gain controlsystem for a MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) system which uses Hmatrix values to form AGC levels.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

A first object of the invention is a resolution controller for an analogto digital converter (ADC), whereby the controller causes the ADC tohave a high resolution such as 12 bits during a preamble interval andthe first symbol of a new zone, and a lower resolution such as 10 bitsfor the remainder of the frame.

A second object of the invention is a gain controller for a wirelessreceiver, whereby the gain controller causes the gain of the receiver tobe adjusted for each new received symbol by measurement of the ADCoutput energy level of the previous symbol.

A third object of the invention is a resolution controller for an analogto digital converter (ADC) combined with a gain controller for awireless receiver, whereby the resolution controller causes the ADC tohave a high resolution during a preamble interval and the first symbolof a new zone, and a lower resolution for the remainder of the packet,and the gain controller causes the gain of the receiver to be adjustedfor each new received symbol by measurement of the ADC output energylevel of the previous symbol.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first embodiment of the invention, an analog to digital converter(ADC) resolution controller is operated in a high resolution during apreamble interval and the first symbol of a new zone, and in a lowerresolution thereafter until the end of the packet. Changing the ADCresolution from a high resolution such as 12 bits to a lower resolutionsuch as 10 bits results in reduced power consumption.

In a second embodiment of the invention, an analog front end gaincontroller performs gain control by performing a coarse gain controlfrom an initial pre-packet gain (PRE_PKT_GAIN) to a preamble gain(PREAMBLE_GAIN), as in the prior art, and thereafter performs symbol tosymbol gain adjustments by measuring the average and/or peak powerduring a current symbol and applying a change in gain during theintersymbol gap time, such that the new gain level is constant duringthe following symbol. This symbol to symbol gain adjustment allows theADC to operate in an optimal linear quantization region, whereby thesampling dynamic range of the ADC is most effectively used.

In a third embodiment of the invention, an analog front end gaincontroller performs gain control by performing a coarse gain controlfrom an initial pre-packet gain (PRE_PKT_GAIN) to a preamble gain(PREAMBLE_GAIN), as in the prior art, and thereafter performs symbol tosymbol gain adjustments by measuring the average and/or peak powerduring a current symbol and applying a change in gain during theintersymbol gap time, such that the new gain level is constant duringthe following symbol. Concurrently, an analog to digital converter (ADC)resolution controller is operated in a high resolution mode during apreamble interval and the first symbol of a new zone, and in acomparatively lower resolution mode in other parts of a frame. Changingthe ADC resolution from 12 bits to 10 bits results in reduced powerconsumption, and adjustments in receiver gain from symbol to symbolenable the reduction in ADC resolution while minimizing or eliminatingthe effect of reduced resolution on the receiver error rate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows the block diagram for a prior art OFDM receiver.

FIG. 2 shows wireless packets with inter-symbol gaps and interpacketgaps.

FIG. 3 shows the waveform for a prior art OFDM receiver.

FIG. 4 shows the block diagram for the MIMO receiver of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 shows the waveforms for the MIMO receiver of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 shows the processing flow for the MIMO receiver of FIG. 4.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show the processing flow for the MIMO receiver of FIG. 4where a zone change occurs mid-frame.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 4 shows an OFDM receiver 400 which includes an antenna 420 forreceiving wireless signals, an RF front end 402 for amplifying thesesignals and converting them to a quadrature baseband signal 422, and avariable resolution analog to digital converter 404, which supports morethan one conversion resolution, shown in FIG. 4 as 10 bit and 12 bit.FIG. 4 is best understood in combination with FIG. 5, which shows thewaveforms of operation having timing relationships related to theincoming packet 200 and 220 of FIG. 2, and incoming receive power 502.Typically, the two channels forming the quadrature output 422 aresampled with a dual channel variable resolution ADC 404. The output 424of ADC 404 is coupled to a baseband processor 406 for demodulation anddecoding of data, which may also include the phase correction and symboltiming functions described in FIG. 1. The baseband processor 406indicates 416 the duration of the preamble for use by the resolutioncontroller 410, which causes the ADC 404 to operate in a high resolutionmode such as 12 bit during this interval, thereafter changing to a lowerresolution mode such as 10 bit during the remainder of the packet, ascan also be seen in waveform 506 of FIG. 5. The broadband processor 406also provides signals for use by the gain controller 408, whichestablish a gain adjustment interval during the preamble, as was donefor the prior art gain preamble gain controller 108, and also includesthe function of step adjustment of gain for each subsequent symbolduring the inter-symbol gaps. FIG. 5 shows the incoming receive power502 operating in conjunction with gain control waveform 504,corresponding to gain control signal 412 of FIG. 4. The preamble gaincontrol performed during the preamble interval 202 is done at thebeginning of the packet, as shown in 510 of waveform 508, and oncecomputed is held steady for the duration 512 of the preamble. Symbolgain adjustments are performed in a different manner. During a symbolsuch as 204, the signal level is measured as shown in duration 514 ofwaveform 508, and during the interpacket gap interval from the end of aprevious symbol such as 204 to the start of the next symbol such as 206,the results of the amplitude measurement are applied in a single stepchange during inter-symbol interval such as 516. In this manner, thegain of the receiver may be changed without affecting the linearity ofthe signal processing within a single symbol, since the gain changes aredone during the gaps between symbols. It is also important to note thatthe nature of the modulation during the preamble is different than thenature of the modulation during the remainder of the packet symbols, andsince the gain control is set at the beginning of the preamble shown asinterval 510, and the next gain change is not performed until the end ofthe first symbol 516, the interval spanning 512 and 514 are not affordedthe receiver gain adjustment that follows the first symbol 204. For thisreason, the ADC resolution is maintained at 12 bits during both thepreamble 202 and first symbol 204, as the receiver gain adjustmentswhich follow the first symbol through the last symbol allow for areduced quantization resolution such as 10 bits shown in waveform 506.

FIG. 6 shows the operation of the gain controller 408 and resolutioncontroller 410 of FIG. 4 from the perspective of a process such as thatof a state controller. The process starts 600 with the ADC resolutionset high such as 12 bits and gain set to a pre packet gain level in step602, which is maintained until either energy is detected 604 or anincoming packet is detected by the baseband processor in step 604. Theinitial preamble gain is iteratively set in steps 606 and 608, whichcorrespond to preamble gain adjustment interval 510 of FIG. 5. Once theaverage gain is within the limits Pmin and Pmax, this gain is maintainedthrough the remainder of the preamble in step 610. When the preamble hasended, for each symbol, the average power level of the output of the ADCis compared to the range of an upper limit Pmax and lower limit Pmin,which may be the same or different than the thresholds used in step 606,and the new gain is computed in step 614, and applied after the end ofthe current symbol 616 as shown in interval 516. Each subsequent symbolis handled the same way, with a new gain level computed during thecurrent symbol, and applied to the next symbol until the end of thepacket 626. As described earlier, the sampling resolution is set to ahigh resolution such as 12 bits 624 for the preamble, and a lowerresolution such as 10 bits for the remainder of the symbols in thepacket 622.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show the operation of the gain controller and the ADCresolution controller when the receiver changes zones during the symbolinterval 710. As before, the preamble interval 702 causes the gaincontrol 510 to establish a gain level used during the remainder of thepreamble 512, and the ADC resolution controller causes the sampling ofthe preamble 702 and first symbol of the new zone 710 to occur using ahigher than nominal resolution such as 12 bit resolution. After thepreamble, and until there is a change in zone as detected by thebaseband processor, the sampling resolution occurs at a nominalresolution such as 10 bit. When a zone change occurs such as symbolinterval 710, this may cause a change in received subcarrier power, andthe ADC resolution changes to 12 bit. In this manner, the ADC resolutioncontroller causes the preamble, first symbol, and any symbol associatedwith a zone change to be sampled at a comparatively higher resolutionthan the subsequent symbols. As before, the AGC controller causes thepower level to be measured during each symbol and an adjustment ofreceiver gain to be made immediately following the current symbol orpreamble, which is applied to the next symbol received. The advantagesof the present invention are reduced power consumption through theoperation of the ADC at the lower nominal sampling resolution than wouldotherwise be required, and the improved use of the available AGCsampling resolution through corrections in gain applied to the followingsymbol through adjustments determined from the previous symbol. Theoperation of the gain controller 408 of FIG. 4 and resolution controller410 of FIG. 4 may be practiced together as shown in the waveforms ofFIG. 8, or separately.

In another embodiment of the invention, the ADC may operate in a higherresolution over periods where the digitized signal level cannot beadequately sampled using a lower ADC resolution, including those beyondthe preamble and first symbol of a new zone.

In another embodiment of the invention, the ADC may operate in a higherresolution for any symbol that cannot be adequately sampled using alower ADC resolution.

While the best mode of the invention is set forth in the accompanyingfigures and specification, the invention may be practiced in manydifferent ways. The gain controller and resolution controller shown inFIG. 5 may be practiced together or separately, although it is believedthat the best mode is the combination of the two as described earlier.The gain adjustment step 608 and measurement of Padc may be done usingan rms measurement over any number of ADC samples, although acomparatively small number of samples will result in an earlier settlingtime shown as 510 of waveform 504. The gain computation step 614 andmeasurement Padc in step step 612 may require the rms measurement ofPadc over an entire symbol 514, and the new gain may be applied in asingle step or multiple steps over the intersymbol gap shown roughly asinterval 516.

We claim:
 1. A sampling resolution controller for an analog to digitalconverter in a receiver coupled to an analog signal source, the analogsignal source comprising a preamble followed by a plurality of OFDMsymbols from a first set of subcarrier frequencies associated with afirst zone and a second set of subcarrier frequencies associated with asecond zone, said analog to digital converter coupled to a basebandprocessor, the baseband processor distinguishing said preamble intervaland each said OFDM symbol interval, said baseband processor alsodistinguishing said first set of subcarrier frequencies associated withsaid first zone from said second set of subcarrier frequenciesassociated with said second zone in said OFDM symbols by examination ofthe subcarriers therein; said sampling resolution controller having ahigher than nominal sampling resolution during a symbol which has saidsecond set of subcarriers, and said nominal sampling resolution at othertimes; where at least one of said OFDM symbols contains either a subsetof said first set of subcarrier frequencies, a subset of said second setof subcarrier frequencies, or a mixture of subsets of said first set ofsubcarrier frequencies and said second set of subcarrier frequencies,for which a gain control value is determined at the end of the currentsymbol for use in a subsequently received symbol.
 2. The samplingresolution controller of claim 1 where said nominal sampling resolutionis less than 12 bits.
 3. The sampling resolution controller of claim 1where said higher than nominal sampling resolution is 12 bits or more.4. The sampling resolution controller of claim 1 where said nominalsampling resolution is 10 bits.
 5. The sampling resolution controller ofclaim 1 where said higher than nominal sampling resolution is 12 bits.6. The sampling resolution controller of claim 1 where the resolutiondifference from said higher than nominal sampling resolution and saidnominal sampling resolution is 2 bits.
 7. The sampling resolutioncontroller of claim 1 where said baseband processor examines the samplesduring said preamble interval and generates a gain control value afterthe end of said preamble interval.
 8. The sampling resolution controllerof claim 1 where said baseband processor examines the samples duringsaid symbol interval and generates a gain control value after the end ofsaid symbol interval.
 9. A gain controller for a receiver having avariable gain amplifier with an input coupled to an analog signalsource, the output of the variable gain amplifier coupled to an analogto digital converter, said analog signal source comprising a preamblefollowed by a plurality of OFDM symbols, said OFDM symbols havingsubcarriers from a first transmitter in a first zone and alsosubcarriers from a second transmitter operative in a different zone thansaid first zone, said analog to digital converter coupled to a basebandprocessor, the baseband processor distinguishing said preamble intervaland said OFDM symbol interval, said baseband processor alsodistinguishing said subcarriers from said first zone and saidsubcarriers from said different zone for each said OFDM symbol; saidbaseband processor examining said analog to digital samples during saidpreamble interval to generate a gain control value after the end of saidpreamble interval and also at the end of each said OFDM symbol; wheresaid subcarriers from said first transmitter and subcarriers from saidsecond transmitter are distinct; and where at least one of said OFDMsymbols contains either a subset of said subcarriers from said firstzone, a subset of said subcarriers from said different zone, or amixture of subsets of said first zone subcarriers and said differentzone subcarriers, for which a gain control value is determined at theend of the current symbol for use in a subsequent symbol.
 10. The gaincontroller of claim 9 where the set of said first transmittersubcarriers and the set of said different transmitter subcarriers aredisjoint during each said symbol.
 11. The gain controller of claim 9where said analog signal source contains MIMO symbols.
 12. The gaincontroller of claim 9 where said first zone or said different zone is atleast one of FUSC (Fully Used Sub-Carrier) or PUSC (Partially UsedSub-Carrier).
 13. The gain controller of claim 9 where said gain controlvalue is applied to said variable gain amplifier.
 14. The gaincontroller of claim 9 where said baseband processor forms said gaincontrol value from said preamble interval and at least one said symbolinterval.